Renting in Groningen in 2026: rooms, the local rules, and how to get your deposit back

Groningen has nearly closed the door on new room houses, tolerates lodgers under strict conditions and caps tourist lets.

• Room houses (omzettingsvergunning). A permit to convert a home into rooms is now only issued in very exceptional cases; the application costs €3,212.33 in 2026 and the city decides within 8 weeks (City of Groningen). Without it, a house may only be let to one household, and a room house needs both the conversion permit and a letting permit (City of Groningen).
• Lodgers (hospitaverhuur). Until new rules arrive, probably at the end of 2026, the city does not actively check lodger arrangements that meet its conditions: the owner lives in the home and owns at least 50% of it, has lived there for at least 2 years without a lodger, lets 1 room of at least 5 m² to 1 person, and signs a lease (City of Groningen).
• Holiday rental. The owner or main tenant, with the owner’s permission, may let the home while away for at most 30 nights from January to December, must be registered, must show the registration number in every advert and, since 1 January 2025, must report every stay. A bed and breakfast has no night limit, but the same guests may not stay longer than 4 months. The rules do not apply in the former municipality of Ten Boer (City of Groningen). See our subletting and Airbnb guide.
• Buyout protection. A home bought from 1 March 2022 with a WOZ value up to €430,000, raised from €355,000 in May 2025, may not be let for 4 years without a permit, anywhere in the municipality except the former Ten Boer. Letting to close family, temporary use up to 12 months and homes tied to a shop are the exceptions; the permit costs €443.42 and doubles if requested more than 1 month after the purchase (City of Groningen).

A Groningen landlord must put the lease in writing and tell you on what points your rent is based.

• Open-ended. As a new tenant you get a lease without an end date right away; a temporary lease is only possible in specific cases and lasts at most 2 years (Rijksoverheid).
• What the landlord must tell you. Your rights and duties, the deposit arrangements, the service charges, the landlord’s contact details, the city report desk’s details and, since 1 January 2025, the number of WWS points behind your rent. No written lease is itself a reason to report (City of Groningen).
• Rent too high. Tenants of private landlords and of housing corporations can report a rent or rent increase above the legal limit to the city (City of Groningen), and in the first 6 months of a lease the Huurcommissie can review the starting rent (Huurcommissie).

Groningen tenants can get free legal advice from a city-funded foundation run largely by students of rental law.

• Steunpunt Huren. It gives free legal advice, mediation and information to all tenants and landlords in the municipality, for example on rents that are too high, unclear all-in rents, maintenance, service charges or agency fees. The foundation is independent, subsidised by the city, staffed by volunteers and students of the RUG and the Hanzehogeschool, and reachable online or at its desk on the Damsterdiep (City of Groningen).
• The city’s report desk. Reporting a landlord is free and can be anonymous, although that can make the investigation harder; a landlord who will not repair something is a matter for the Steunpunt Huren (City of Groningen). The city answers on 14 050 (City of Groningen).
• The court. Rechtbank Noord-Nederland is at Guyotplein 1 in the centre of Groningen (Rechtspraak.nl), open on weekdays from 8.30 to 17.00 (Rechtspraak.nl). If money is the problem, see our legal aid guide.